Visual effects supervisor Glenn Neufeld strapped Visitor's feet to the stage in order to ensure that the crystal didn't move. Different versions of the crystal were then applied for different scenes, with the larger versions incorporating a seat for the actress so that she could relax inside the prop between takes. The prop caused problems for Visitor due to her claustrophobia, which was the second time during season three that a Wolfe scripted episode had caused her these types of problems after "Second Skin". She also didn't like how it appeared on screen: "I thought it was going to look like my body turning to stone. Instead I looked like a big old hot fudge sundae, and my head was the cherry on top." Director Alexander Singer admitted that the prop wasn't what they envisioned, and work was conducted on it post-production to improve it. Post-production was also problematic as there were several morphing scenes involving Odo and the female Founder, which required reactions by other actors. Neufeld said that none of what they were aiming for worked in post-production, but it was saved by the visual effects company VisionArt who managed to salvage the work. Jens agreed to re-appear as the female Founder she had previously appeared as in "The Search", and for her credit to only appear in the closing credits so as to avoid spoiling the twist in the Odo/Kira plot. Eisenberg was initially panicked by the script that showed Nog going to Starfleet Academy as he thought the character was being written out of the show, but executive producer Rick Berman assured him that it wouldn't be the case. He later said that the scene where Nog talks to Sisko about his father was his favourite scene in the series. Themes Children had featured in Star Trek as major series characters since Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation. The character of Crusher had attended Starfleet Academy, but leaves Starfleet in the seventh-season episode "Journey's End", aired in February 1994. Jake Sisko was a minor character in Deep Space Nine, but had expressed a desire to be a writer rather than join Starfleet in the sixth episode of the third season, "The Abandoned". There was a desire to avoid the Crusher "chosen one" type storyline with Sisko, but after "The Abandoned" it was seen that there would no longer be a young character progressing through